You know what? I don't have my agenda. That's helpful. >> The council will come to order. I'll rise and salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic
for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing for a moment of silence in honor of our veterans, service members, and those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. I'd also like to do an additional moment
of silence in memory of longtime Ward 3 resident Steven Lewis. Many of you have likely met his wife, Sandy Felder, um on visits to the gallery at 57. Yes, I'm sorry to be sharing this sad news. Um I know many of you have probably met his wife, Sandy
Felder, at countless events around the city. It's almost too many to name the things that um Sandy and Steven were involved in around the city. Um I saw Sandy as recently as this past Friday night at the revolutionary art reception at 350 Maine. I know I saw counselor Ali there. Um Sandy had been carrying a very
private burden of Steven's recent diagnosis of Alzheimer's for the last few years and he did pass away peacefully with Sandy at his side this past Wednesday at home. With her permission, I am going to share an excerpt from a beautiful statement in his memory that she shared with me over
the weekend. Steven lived a life shaped by conscience, curiosity, and an enduring belief in justice. He attended Northeastern University where he became active in the antivietnam war movement and the struggle for black liberation. His
values guided his life from early on. He even lost his first professional job because he refused to cross a picket line. That quiet moral clarity would define him. He devoted his career to social work supporting homeless youth in Boston and later adults living with mental illness through the Mass
Department of Mental Health. He believed deeply in the dignity of those that he served. His commitment extended into union leadership with SEIU Local 509 where he served as chair of the political action committee and treasurer. There he helped strengthen the union as a powerful voice for human
service and education workers across the state. He also collected political and labor posters, a passion that grew into a second life's work. With a collection of more than 7,000 posters, he curated hundreds of public exhibitions throughout New England, bringing
messages of struggle, solidarity, and hope into libraries, universities, and community spaces. This was actually profiled in Neighborhood View um just a few years ago. It's well worth a read. That collection now resides in the Steven Lewis archive at UMass Boston preserved for future generations.
Steven will be remembered for his integrity, his passion for justice, his humor, and the many lives he touched. In his memory, Ste Sandy asks that you send a memory you have of him to lewis posters@gmail.com. And in time, she will compile these into a book that will bring comfort and joy
as she reflects on how he was known and loved by so many. May his memory be a blessing, a moment of silence for Steven Lewis. Thank you very much. >> You have another. Okay. >> Yes. Give me one moment. Councelor
Winsow. >> Ready. All right. Um, yeah. I just I I also just want to say uh Steven Lewis was probably the first person who got me involved in politics uh stuff. So we can either thank him or blame him for my involvement, but uh very dedicated um
and and a civic-minded person. So I really appreciate it. But um we also lost another Malden institution uh recently. Arthur Khan um passed away um just a few weeks ago. And as many Maldonians know that Arthur was a
central figure in Malden Square, um having been the owner with his brother and following up with his father of Malden jewelry store um and that he was always a presence um in Malden Square in and around. So that was a really big
thing. Um um besides being an outstanding business person and salesperson, Arthur served Malden and our nation. He uh served in the army during the Korean War and then dedicated himself to serving veterans including the Jewish war veterans and our Malden
DAV. He served on multiple organizations in Malden. I first met Arthur um through the Rotary Club and and also saw him frequently at the YMCA, both the old one here on Pleasant Street as well as the newer one um on Dartman Street. So, he was um involved in so many
organizations, too many just to really mention here. Um he was a big lover of sports. He played football at Nor Eastern, so another Northeastern grad um where he met met his wife Barbara and um he also helped establish Malden uh Pop Warner um as well. Um Arthur and his
wife Barbara um also a civic institution raised three wonderful children. Um Heather, Heidi, and Jeff are survived by 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Um we offer our our s sincerest condolences to Barbara and
the entire Khan family and um they did ask for donations to go to the DAV um over on um uh over in Chris's ward. So um people can make donations to DAB and Arthur's honor. So just a moment of silence. Thank you.
Thank you. Will the clerk now please call the role? >> Council Cologne Hayes here. >> Council Condan here. >> Council Crowe here. >> Council Lewong here. >> Council McDonald here. >> Council Ali here. >> Council Sika
>> here. >> Council Simonelli. >> Council Taylor >> here. >> Council Winslow here. >> Council President Lahan >> here. >> Okay. Under the provisions of the open meeting law, for those of you in attendance, please be informed that UMA Urban Media Arts will be recording this evening's meeting. So, just be aware
there will be audio and video recordings of tonight's meeting. First order of business, I believe we are going to take one item out of order before we go to our citizens achievement and announcements. Um, that is
item. Bear with me. I apologize. It's >> Sorry, I'm looking for the which agenda item? It's under communications. >> It's under communications. It doesn't have a paper number. Um, I just need a second to um
>> No, not that kind of >> She needs a moment. >> I need a second to elevate um attorney to me. Oh, online. Understood. We're we're going to be taking one of our um items of communication from our
solicitor's office out of order due to a scheduling constraint. So, just bear with us while we bring in one of our assistant city solicitors on teams. >> So, Zahir, if you can hear me. It looks like I I can't raise you to a participant, but I can um I enabled your
mic and your camera. Are you able to unmute yourself and hear us and speak with us? Just bear with us one moment while we try to reach our solicitor's office on teams. Okay, we're going to go to our next order of business while we work on our
tech issues. Next item being our presentation. Yes. >> Okay. >> So, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Ron Hogan will appear before the council to provide an update on school funding requirements for FY27.
And everybody should have a handout in front of them of what Mr. Hogan is going to present on right now. Thank you, Mr. Hogan. You have the floor. >> Thank you. And so, hopefully everyone did get the presentation. It's got a hard copy in front of them. And I've asked the clerk to just upload this to the meeting resources afterward. So
anybody from the public that that wants to take a look afterwards can follow along at home. I think everybody knows come, you know, budget time, we end up covering some of the school um side of things, but always in a bit of a hurried fashion. And given the oversized role this topic has played in some of the conversations that we've had, you know,
well, relatively to override and some of the city's financial challenges, it felt like it made sense to just take a few minutes and pull it out and really highlight the what we're looking at for the current fiscal year relative to school financing. I'm going to give you a little bit of background, but I'm not going to spend a a ton of time. You you
all can certainly jump in and ask questions, but I want to just walk through how the state goes about very quickly determining, but really then tell you what this year looks like. So, very first thing the state does for education funding is to determine what's called a foundation budget. Simply put,
it's the state using um the various uh demographics and and characteristics of our student base to determine what it is that the public schools and that in this case it's the public schools and the charter schools need to spend in order to provide a sort of a quality education for all of the students. And so that's
the first slide. It's the first step. Uh this year that number was about uh about $2 million more than last year. Some of that is uh definitely tampered down by enrollment going down. So the number of students went down, but certainly the cost of doing everything went up. And so the very first thing the state
determines is, hey, all the things being equal, you need to spend another couple million dollars to educate the folks in the public schools. The next thing the state does is to determine how much, and this is when it really gets important, how much this city of Malden should be able to
contribute towards education. And this is the term you've heard me refer to a lot of times as the target local contribution. How much can we using our resources based upon the state formulas uh as compared to last year? How much more do they believe that these formulas
say we can contribute over last year? And in that case, they plug in the different variables. We've talked about them. I'm not going to go through them in detail, but it's basically EQV and income. And their very first calculation says that the city of Malden should be able to contribute $3.46 46 million more
toward education for this year as compared to last year. I do want to point out one thing that the two things that the state uses to determine that EQB and income, one of those numbers generally only changes every other year. So the EQV number in fact did not change
from last year and yet the calculation yielded a result that the city of Balden should be able to take from its resources and increase school funding by $3.46 46 million with one of the two variables staying constant. It's a really important thing to remember.
So the the next thing that the state calculates is okay that's how much our target is going up. So what they then try to say is what can the city truly afford? Uh that's where the target moved. What is the increment toward that goal? How much do the how much do the
metrics tell the state that we should be able to add to last year based upon some other factors to get to that target goal? And the main input here is that what we call a municipal growth factor. So state looks at the growth of all local revenues and and they've got a a
factor here of 5.25% and they say all other things being equal, you are expected to at least go up by the amount you contributed last year to education multiplied by that growth factor. So your very starting point is the target went up as I mentioned by 3.4 million
but our required contribution what it is for this current year is being incremented by the municipal growth factor which yielded a $3.3 million increase over last year. So that's the starting point. The state says what your target could have gone up $50 million.
the amount that's expected to actually be funded starts with that required local contribution going up by the growth in our local revenues over the prior year. Then what they say is okay, but we need to see how far away from your target you are because we're going to give you a
little nudge with this penalty factor. And so because we are uh we are sort of in between the the the 2 and 1 half and 7 and a half% range, they add another $629,000 to that figure. And this is again the formulas are designed to push us towards
that target number. So they first say we're going to grow it by your local revenues and then we're going to add in another amount onto it to try to get you closer to that target figure. So when you put those two together, you yield what the state calls our increase
in required local contribution from last year to this year of $3.9 million. So again that is the amount that on education public schools, charter schools, vocational schools that we must spend incrementally last year to
this year just on education. So you see the the the summary here uh shows you on the very line that very bottom line that required net school spending increase by by $3.9 million. and and so regardless of what the state
is going to do for aid, that is our required contribution. In addition, you can see that we are receiving uh $51,000 in um chapter 78. It's it's what they call the minimum aid where they take an
amount per student, $75 this year. Last year was twice that. and they they basically say even though you have no need because our required contribution covers more than 100% of the expected increase to cover the increase in education costs, the state provides us
this $500,000 minimum aid last year over this year. So nobody gets zero. Everybody goes up by this minimum aid amount. U you can see that last year we got 5.3 uh I'm sorry, $5.8 million last year. So, our chapter
78 went down about $5.3 million between last year and this year. So, our local contribution went up. Our chapter 78 uh went went way down. So, when you look at it in total, there
are there are four u numbers that make up what it is that we need to spend on education. the uh the first one is the required increase to the voke spending which is a subset of that $3.9 million number that I mentioned earlier. Um the required contribution to the Balden
district which is 3.4 million and change. Those two together make up that $3.9 million that we are required to fund toward education. the uh required increase to the Northeast Vogue school building project. Uh although not part of the minimum school spending
requirement, it is an amount that we are obligated to put towards that death schedule. It's that it's that final big jump in that that building schedule and it's on the schedule and we are we are committed and must fund that. And then the last piece is the um increase in uh
transportation. So transportation is one of those items that does not count towards net school spending. Uh yet the schools, you know, must pay for it year-over-year. So, you know, whatever they spend towards education doesn't count towards net school spending. But
but we've got to fund it, right? Because um essentially whatever they do put toward that reduces the amount that counts towards net school spending. We're going to have to go ahead and backfill that. So those four items required by law. There's nothing we can do about them. Total 4.8. 87 million
last year to this year, what we have to pay in order to keep up with the requirements for the various education funding pieces. And what I show down below, folks, is just the expected increase in revenues for the fiscal year 27 budget. If you assume our typical 2 and a half% property tax base increase
of about $2.9 million, I put it a million dollars in new growth. That number is, you know, varied right around that number, but it's a reasonable assumption. It's a number that we've got to grow, but that's pretty much where we've been at. I show you the all local receipts growing at a 3% number. These
are excise tax and meals tax and all the other different local licenses and fees and parking tickets, right? So, we collect about $20 million in local receipts if you assume those go up by 3%. Um, I put in another $600,000 number there. And then I added in the
unrestricted state aid of about $400,000. And you can see that all four of those sources would cover the state required spending on education. And now we've got to figure out how everything else gets paid for from there. So before we start this
budget, the four major line items, property taxes, new growth, u unrestricted aid, and increase in local receipts. Maybe it's 5%. I don't know. It's 5%. Well, another $200,000. Well, that's what we'll have to play with. But you can see that before we start the
budget, the the lion share of our increase in revenue is already spoken for. Now we've got to start talking about funding the rest of the city operations. So it's um it's a little sobering because I'll tell you before we started before we knew this, we knew we had a problem, right? We we started
talking about the the deficit within the budget before we got the results from the state that told us we're required to put this amount towards education and that we're getting half million dollars in and state aid. And this, as you can tell, is only going to dig that hole uh just a heck of a lot deeper. So
hopefully that helps just kind of give you an idea what we're looking at before the budget comes down and it's baked all into that. But that is going to without a doubt make this budget far more challenging than even last year's because we start with that baseline and we add to what this this what I call sort of an impossible situation. So
happy to take any questions that you all have. >> Great. Thank you, Mr. Hogan. This is I definitely see some lights. I just wanted to say this is helpful given that we don't you know we've had the cherry sheet come out but it's going to be some time before we get the mayor's budget and obviously we do have a special election in March. I think this is
helpful because the public is asking for what information can we talk about now and this does feel like that kind of level sets a little bit to understand what we're facing before we have more that we can talk about. Um so I'm going to go to councelor McDonald first. >> Yeah, thank you so much council president and thanks Ron for laying this
out. Um it is grim this year and I just want to clarify this list the you know this chart on the last page that you've got of these required increases. This actually doesn't even take into account the catch-up payment that we need to make for previous gaps in required local
spending once we you know kind of went through the post hawk analysis. Right. >> That's right. >> So that's another million and a half on top of this. So >> that's a great point. Yeah. I did not I don't want to feel like I was piling on but but the reality is there is a bare minimum 1.6 million carrying over from
FY25. And if you assume that FY26 just stays level, it carries over to 26 and and has to get added on. So, yep, this is I guess you could call this the best case scenario. >> Yeah. Um, so I do just want to say, you know, I went back and looked at these formula is so unpredictable about what
it generates on the state funding side, it's pretty steady that it just keeps chugging up and up and up on the local required contribution side. Um, and so when I look back at the at since 2019 when the Student Opportunity Act was implemented, we've averaged about a $3
million a year increase in the required local contribution and a $3 million a year increase in state funding. Again, it bounces around, but if you average it, right? So that both things are worse. It's 2.5 million less in state funding than perhaps on average in the
last couple years. Meanwhile, it is almost a million more in the required local entrepre. that swing that's a that's sort of a $3.5 million swing compared to standard baseline you would estimate going into next year. So I just want to emphasize this is th this is
this is the it's it's getting worse not better um as we implement the S SOA fully implement the S SOA and this is the just want to again say this is why we went to the uh hearings that the department of elementary and secondary
education had about this required local contribution. They're doing this local contribution study. A number of us went and testified, including Ron and myself and the mayor, and submitted comments about how to change this formula. And one way to do it is to look at the impact on the rest of the city budget. Another way to do it is to put some
limits on what that target local contribution can be. Because right now, there are no theoretical limits. Theoretically, I don't know if we can figure out what this would look like. It'd be a weird city probably, but theoretically, your target local contribution could be 90% of your local revenue
>> if you if the property values matched up. and everything. There's no theoretical limit to it. >> Um, and as other things in the formula move forward and other wealthier districts run into their caps, all of that cost has to get redistributed and and it comes right back to us. So that
is all to say um you know I'm now in the this is more of a comment than a question phase of this but to to note that um that report is from the from DESIE is coming out this summer and this will be the final year
of S SOA implementation which the legislature has said they want to do. So that means that there is an opening here hopefully maybe our best that we've had recently to try to get some changes. Um, I've had a number of residents email me and ask about like what more can we do? This came up at the forum and Ron, I
would just love your thoughts about, you know, whether there are ways that we could collectively try to mobilize our residents um to really get some changes to this formula uh on the on the table for next year. >> Yeah. No, I and I think a resident asked it on one of the forums. I think it's a
great question. I do think we should get the benefit of the study to know what it is that the professional staff at the Department of Education is recommending in order to go ahead and figure out how to mobilize the folks in this community that want to be part of that. I think everything we do until then to create a foundation of knowledge will make that
report, you know, make more sense. But I I absolutely think the suggestion of how do we get folks to have a voice is one that we should be thinking about. But I think we need to figure out what's going to be put on the table in that report, you know, and hope that it doesn't take a pass. I'm cautiously optimistic. The
folks at at DESIE are incredibly competent, right? They they they know the stuff inside and out. And I really am optimistic that this type of thing, guys, this this doesn't work. >> Yeah. >> You you cannot put 100% of your revenue towards one line item and and then sit
there and think that this is voodoo math. This is just this is real. and and it might be buried within a complicated budget that comes down in a month and a half, but it's in there. I I I promise you it's in there, right? Because there is just no other way around it because one way or the other, they're going to get you there. And to your point,
Council McDonald, this could have been another this could have been another $600,000 more if that penalty piece triggered just to the next level, which we're right there. And I can promise you, right, we're on tape. We'll be there next year. That penalty number when the EQV kicks in for two years will
be the the higher end of the penalty. I I be willing to be willing to stake my my presentation on that. >> Okay. Thank Thank you, Council McDonald. Next, I have Councelor Winsow. >> Yeah. Um Ron, when we were looking at the um in talking about the override
vote initially, the mayor put forward the $5.4 million proposal, and I know there was some discussion uh in and one reason why the council put forward 8.2 million was some concern. Now, this that was 8.2 was 2.8 8 million above what the
initial proposal was. This is looking at a $3.5 million over. So it's actually what we might have estimated when we were putting the override on the ballot is actually now the final figures are $700,000 more. So So yeah. >> Yeah. Although I think if you recall
there weren't necessarily we didn't get from there to from sort of that way but but certainly I would say that this this level of worst case scenario was certainly not contemplated in any of those conversations. I mean I think all all you were there know that nobody was sitting there saying and we should assume I remember the conversation being
well let's assume an average year and I'd say well what's an average year >> 5.8 8 million in state aid 8 to 500,000 in state and I got news for you like we're going to be having conversations with the school department they they are going to have a tough time budgeting even to to this number right they'll tell you that their costs are going
through the roof also so it it the numbers might be close in terms of what that override number changed in committee but it's not because any assumption was made here this added on to that problem >> so so this is added on so that's really% all right thank you okay thank you
councelor wins councelor cologne hayes Thank you very much. Actually, you were just touched on, council wins, what I was going to ask. So, I was circling numbers on page five. I'm your It's not numbered, but it's basically adding the shortfall penalty. That's what I was going to ask about. Um, you it says 629.
There's so many numbers been going around in our heads right now. But the last time we talked about this, there was a penalty and a gap that we were adding on already, which is what where I think we came to that 8.2 million. So on page five, this penalty what you're
saying is new. Is that >> So we have pretty much been in a pen penalty situation every year. It's just a matter of whether in what you'll call the first tier or the second tier, right? So if your if your shortfall is between 2 and a half and 7 half% of your
target, you get hit with a 1% penalty. If it's over 7 and a half, you get hit with a 2% penalty. Last year, we were at the 2% and I think, you know, Council McDonald rightly predicted we'd be there again this year. were the EQV to have moved year over year, we absolutely would have been. So, uh it's just it it
triggers each year based upon how far away you are, but that target's running away from us and we're trying to catch it and and every year, >> I mean, we're going to have that council, you know, we're going to have that second tier penalty and this is not a place where you want to be in a second tier. >> Okay. So, that's why this number goes up
because that's people are going to hear this tonight and we're going to have to okay respond to that. Uh much appreciated for this. Thank you. Thank you, councelor Colon Hayes. Councelor Oman. >> Uh, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hogan, for this presentation. Um, and I I I think I
kind of know the answer, but like would you agree that like the chapter 70 foundation format is the primary reason why we're facing this Prop 2 and a half override? >> 100%. Yes. >> I mean, because like what you've shown here is that as state aid has gone down,
local our local contribution is going up. And you know, at the same time, we have increased health insurance rates, increased inflation, and we have no money to take that into consideration. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean, I appreciate that you've you've done the yman's work of not just
educating the city of Malden, but educating the state. You know, I I think that the reason why the state knows this is a problem is because of your your work, and it it it doesn't go unnoticed. >> I appreciate that. And I will just say council, it's it's a bit of an inverse be because our contribution keeps going
up disproportionately. The state aid has gone down. So the state aid is the backfill between what we must spend and what they say we can afford. It's just a mathematical equation that says if you must spend 4 million and we've determined you've got three, then we're going to fill it in with a million. And so that's the reason why it's just a
little bit of an inverse, but they're all they're all related. Um, and we members of the community haven't had the chance to necessarily, you know, research this for 10 years the way the way you have or or even longer. Um, you talked about the EQV.
Can you explain what the EQV is really high level? >> Yeah. So, so it's just another word for property value with a few minor adjustments that are done to it from a from an assessor perspective, but it's it's it's better labeled probably as aggregate aggregate property value within the city of Maldin. And so they
they sort of add all that together and they add a factor to it and that's one of the two inputs to how much it is that you know that they that they um the numbers say that we can afford. And you know like we've talked about at Nauseium that's all well and good but when it's almost 50% of your revenue and your neighbors are at half that it doesn't
work. >> And and and you had said that that number is not changing and that that was significantly that was important and that's because it is going to change this coming year and we're really going to get hammered even more. >> Yeah. It it seems to it seems to lag and then go up two years and then the next
year it stays flat, then it goes up for two years. So I expect next year to see a big jump in that EQB number because it'll reflect two years worth of growth and that'll that'll be what pushes us into the the higher penalty amount. >> And I mean I think like you know we I know we've kind of talked about this at Nauseium, but the other dynamic is that
the way the formula is currently written, it also discourages, you know, housing development and econom economic development. And so, you know, you can't have these two policies that are so in conflict with each other. You can't say that you need to build more housing in our in our state, but penalize when we
build more housing. Um, so I appreciate the work that you've done and and you know, thank you. Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, well, seeing no other lights, I just want to thank you again for coming in. Um again just for the public watching the presentation that we
all have in our hands will be attached to the agenda. So anybody watching that will be something that you can go to the agenda click on this item and open the presentation if you really want to dig into those numbers. Um but thank you again for coming in. I think this will be really helpful for folks watching to
understand. Um you know as others have said this is a difficult topic and something that isn't likely to change dramatically next year. we're going to be likely facing a tough discussion, you know, for the foreseeable future. But highlighting the specifics helps us to at least have the same information so that we, you know, have eyes wide open
while we're having these hard conversations. >> Yeah. And I'll offer up I mean, honestly, if there's anybody out there that feels that we're overstating the role that this plays in our challenges, I'm truly happy to sit down with anybody one by one, one-on-one, and and kind of walk through this. I mean, it is truly something that I don't know that any city, you know, could overcome this sort
of this sort of pressure from from one area. And we will also load this up to the um you know sort of prop 2 and F override. We have a section on the challenges coming from the school finance side. So we'll put it in put it in both places in case anyone wants to look for it there too. So >> that would be great. Thank you.
>> Thank you for coming. >> Okay. Do we have um Zahir back? >> We do. >> Wonderful. >> We can see you now. I understand um you are logged in. >> Yes. I'm sorry about that. But I didn't
know uh I didn't know I was going to be uh discriminated against if I wasn't logged into Microsoft, but I am now. >> Okay. >> I have a problem before as well. >> Okay. Okay. >> I imagine it's a security feature, so probably for good reason.
>> It's a little fuzzy sounding. >> I know. I'm having a hard time understanding you. >> See here, we we were having a little hard time hearing. Are you using a headset? Are you able to get closer to the microphone? >> Uh let me let me try that. Is that better? >> Oh, that's a lot better. Thank you. >> Okay. Sorry about that. >> Okay. Let's we're going to have the
clerk read the the um the item first because we actually didn't read that yet and then we'll give you the floor to give us the update. >> Okay. A representative from the solicitor's office will follow up on paper 128-26 with an update to the council on the investigation into the open meeting law complaint filed by Ryan
Ali of 706 Main Street on February 17th, 2026 revised February 19th related to accusations made involving the executive session of February 10th, 2026. >> Okay, thank you. Zahir, you have the floor.
>> Okay, can you hear me? Um, can you speak a little closer? >> Yeah. Can you hear me now? >> Is everybody able to hear him? No. I think we're still having a little bit of trouble. >> Uh, sorry about that. Let me
>> Did he freeze? >> Is that better at all? >> There we go. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes, that's fine. You You can go ahead. Thank you. >> Sure. So, this was u a complaint that we investigated and um the complaint basically alleged that uh there was
improper deliberation at the February 10th executive session. So um we did some research, we investigated um the law, reviewed attorney general decisions, and basically our conclusion is that there was no improper deliberation
um at the February 10th uh executive session meeting. And um it's pretty straightforward actually, but if you have any um it's also explained in great detail in the four-page letter response, but if you have any specific questions about the letter, I'm happy to try and
answer them. >> Has the letter, right? >> You know what? I don't think so. Okay. We're just going to make sure that >> we can have him. You want me to have him say that? >> Give us just one second to hear us. So, apologies.
>> Okay. Okay, Zahir, could you briefly explain what your findings were? The um the item wasn't attached to the agenda. So, the clerk and I were just conferring as to what our next steps should be given that counselors haven't seen this attached to the docket tonight. So if you could just
give a very high level overview before we go ahead and vote to authorize or not authorize the um solicitor's office to respond on our behalf. >> Sure. So, the complaint had alleged that the the notice um for the executive
session on February 10th, which had to do with um reviewing minutes of previous executive sessions, that um there was a discussion uh regarding the substance of um some litigation.
um that was the subject of the prior minutes uh of the executive sessions that were being reviewed for um potential disclosure and whatnot. And the complaint alleged that um instead of just reviewing the minutes of prior executive sessions that there was some
improper deliberation or discussion regarding um the underlying um purpose of those executive session minutes. uh for example, you know, discussing strategy and litigation or one of the other purposes for which executive session is allowed. So the attorney
general actually I found a decision from the attorney general's office which was remarkably recent for actually decided this year in 2020 2016 uh 2026 um which was very similar in which um the uh uh Pioneer Valley Performing Arts
Charter School Board uh was discussing uh like as as you were u minutes from prior executive sessions and the attorney general basically said in that decision ision that um uh even though
the discussion may have been um heading toward to an evolution of a general discussion of litigation strategy rather than the minutes themselves. Any discussion of litigation fell within the context of a release of the executive session minutes and the discussion ended
with a vote to continue to withhold the minutes in light of potent of a potential appeal which was actually very remarkably similar to the scenario that uh this city council was in on February 10th. And based on, you know, that that decision as well as, you know, the open
meeting law, um, I determined that there was no improper deliberation of any topics that were, um, not noticed in the meeting agenda. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And that's it. >> Okay. Thank you. So again, I'm going to remind folks that this this does pertain
to executive session. So we are looking for a vote to authorize legal to respond on behalf of the body. I make that motion. >> I'll second. >> Okay. On a motion by councelor Crow, seconded by councelor Seika, we can take a voice vote. All in favor?
>> I. Any opposed? >> Present. >> Present. Councelor Omali. Okay. So, we have authorized legal to respond. >> Okay. Next order of business.
>> Yes. Thank you, Zahir. We're all set. Appreciate you. >> Thank you. Yeah. I'll send it to the attorney general and to the um Mr. Ali. um just tonight. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. So, we're going back to public comment. >> Public comment. >> Okay. Public comment. Public comment is
allowed under council rules. Each speaker is limited to the subject matter relevant to our evening's agenda. And uh speakers must keep their comments to two minutes or less. Clerk, do we have anybody signed up for public comment? >> We do. We have one email and we have one person signed up. Okay, let's take the in-person comment first.
>> Actually, can we read the email? >> Oh, absolutely. >> Thank you. Um, both of them have to do with paper 123-26. This first um comment is an email that was submitted by Bruce Freeman of 8 Marvin Street. And it goes on to say, I am sending this public comment in regarding the reappointment
of Yam Lip on tonight's docket as paper 123-26. This body continues to withhold the executive session minutes where the council discussed the lawsuit brought by TUS Construction against the city and LIP. The case was settled on January 20th, 2026. On March 2nd, 2026, the
mayor and Mr. Lip signed all required paperwork to finalize the settlement entered into court on January 20th, 2026. Mr. Lip's actions resulted in taxpayers being on the hook for a $1.2 million settlement and yet to be determined monies for attorney fees and sanctions. Mr. Lip should not be
reappointed, and the public should have access to discussions their elected representatives had in executive session about the case. Toughs filed against Lip before any reappoint is considered. This body refuses to stand up to the mayor and his administration, rubber stamping his appointments, budgets, and now tax
increases to the taxpayers. This is true even when a city's official action have resulted in substantial liabilities for the city. It is past time for you all to work together despite your differences and reestablish the authority and power of this body to hold the executive accountable.
Thank you. And then signed up to speak um on the same paper is Marie Louise. Oh, sorry about that. Let me put your po the microphone on. Can you just state your name and address or street for the record? >> You should be. Yeah, you should be
outside. >> Thank you. U Marie Louise, 1410 Eastern A. Um I feel compelled to reiterate what I had discussed in um personnel and appointments I believe last week. Um and this is on the appointment of YML lip. I
just want to reiterate our support for that appointment. Um YM has been a very critical um part of our team here at city hall. He wears many hats. Our city engineering
department is probably involved in more varied responsibilities than other departments. Um, and actually I even had to write down some of them so that I remember them myself. Um,
as part of overseeing the whole city public infrastructure, he's also involved in overseeing traffic calming and pedestrian safety, ADA upgrades, sewer and storm water work, supervising full road reconstruction and sidewalks, and most
importantly, implementing our lead pipe program. And it's basically his work. He's done yman work to make that um program very aggressive and it's why we always meet not only the requirements
that D requires but also we go above it every year. This year we did well over 330 lead um replacements and that's been what has put pushed our program forward. Um, I also want to um remind the
counselors that were in the meeting last week that all his colleagues showed up here for the meeting, which I think is a huge testament to his reputation and um character here at city hall. So, I felt that it really needed to be reiterated
this evening for those that weren't at that meeting. Thank you. >> Thank you. Consent agenda. >> Okay. Next order of business is the consent agenda. This evening's consent agenda consists of meeting minutes to be approved, one reappoint, and two communications to be placed on file.
Does any counselor have a desire to remove any of these items from the consent agenda for the purpose of further discussion? Okay. Hearing none, and seeing none, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Okay. So, made by councelor Taylor, seconded by counselor. I think I saw
Cologne Hayes first. Um, all in favor? >> I. All opposed. Okay. Seeing none, the agenda is approved. Next order of business. >> Paper 147-26, council reappoint. Robert Donnelly of 38 Gold Cliff Road, Malden as part-time member of the board of assessors, having
served since February 15, 2011. Said term to commence upon confirmation by the city council and to expire on March 1st, 2029. >> Okay. Councelor Crow for the appointment. >> Um, thank you, Madam President. And you know, usually um for appointments that
are over 20 years, we've had referred them um back to there. But we we do know like Bob Donnelly and he was our city assessor for a while for a long time. And um and he's really kind of pulled all those things together. And so the um we can always have a conversation with
them. But I do know that our assessor Nate Kramer does need um Bob Donnelly on the assessor to be able to sign some things that we have, you know, always going on. So with with assessments. So I would like to make a motion to approve on the floor. Second
>> on the floor. Okay. And I do have a note that Mr. Donnelly has been a 15year member. So I we're close to the 20 year, but we're not quite there yet. but appreciate the long um standing service. Okay, so we had a motion by councelor Crow, seconded by councelor Winslow.
>> Okay, so to do a confirmation on the floor, we do need a roll call. >> Council Cologne Hayes, >> yes. Council Condan, >> yes. >> Yes. Council Crow, >> yes. >> Yes. Council Lewan, >> yes. >> Yes. Council McDonald, >> yes. >> Yes. Council Ali, >> yes.
>> Yes. Council, >> yes. >> Yes. Council Simonelli, >> yes. Council Taylor, >> yes. Yes. Council Winsow. >> Yes. >> Yes. Council President Lahan. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, that was a confirmation of 11 to zero unanimous vote. >> Okay. So, he is confirmed. Next order of
business. >> Paper 148-26 communication. The Police Community Advisory Council respectfully submits their inaugural recommendation report as was submitted to Chief Cronin of the Malden Police Department for the year ending 2025. This was sponsored um by
Councelor McDonald. >> Okay. Councelor McDonald for the communication. >> Thank you, Council President. And I'm excited to get this all in front of you because you may remember that a few years ago this council uh approved the creation of an ordinance that
established the police community advisory council um to carry on a number of conversations that have been h happening in the community about public safety, community safety, the role of our police department uh and more. And so this group um I am the council liaison to this group. I'm not a voting
member. Um and this group has been meeting monthly for the last about year and some change um year and a half I think. And they have uh met with many different members of the Malden PD. Um they have toured the police station and
taken ridealongs. They've also spent a lot of time in the community. They've reached out to community organizations, brought folks to their meetings. um they've been at uh fairs and community festivals where they've gotten feedback from uh a wide range of folks and so they are charged every year in the
ordinance that we adopted with providing recommendations. These were set um right around the beginning of the year and uh I wanted to make sure we had a chance to include the response from the police department as well um which you'll see here. So uh they are charged as I said to give these recommendations to the
police department as well as the mayor and the city council. So, I'm I'm fulfilling my role as liaison by passing these on to you. I'll just share really quickly and and I do encourage you to read it. It's not a long report, but talks more about their process. Um, their recommendations include making more data available. There are a number
of um really excellent reports that MPD prepared about the demographics of officers, um, use of force incidents, traffic stops, um, that were requested. So, those are attached to the paper. Um, so they want more data at at a at a a
raw form so it can be better analyzed to be available. They strongly endorse adding a second mental health clinician to the staff of um helping out MPD. There's one right now and she is I mean up to our eyeballs all all the time as I understand it. Um because if you look at
their use of force statistics you see and that's really anything more than use of handcuffs like anything more. um it is way far far from deadly. Um the they like the the biggest contributor to that is people experiencing mental health um
challenges and crises and so the need to have that kind of additional support I think was was very much endorsed in the response as well. Of course we are facing some challenges in providing additional city staff but um that original position I think was fronted by a grant that you helped get councelor Crow. Um so that is badly needed and and
I and I wholeheartedly support that as well. Um they recommended some additional ways to code data uh around working with unhoused folks in Malden since that's a that's a big thing that the police department gets called to respond to. Um some ways that they can better communicate with the count with
the the PCAC and the police department which they're responding to. Um and uh note they're going to continue their work. They also had some affirmations for our Molden Police Department of things that uh they think they're doing really well. They highlighted the fact that MPD has is now an accredited
department. That's maybe a two-year-old designation at this point, but that was a big effort under Chief Cronin to demonstrate excellence. Um they note their high visibility and presence in the community uh just across the board. Um they appreciate the off the efforts of traffic officers and traffic
enforcement since um traffic safety and pedestrian safety remain a top safety concern. Um and uh and so they wanted to include those affirmations as well. So I encourage you to read the whole thing um and take in take you know chat chat with
those members um their their next meeting is next Wednesday. Um as they take up new topics um they may also propose some addition some changes to the ordinance like around how some of the members are important but they do have youth members and those members have really contributed a lot. I just
want to highlight our outgoing youth member um Vinnie Spartacino and our two youth members this year have been extremely um have just been great participants. So, uh, thank you all for, uh, just paying attention to this key report and its in its first, um, first
presentation to you all. >> That's great. Thank you, Councelor McDonald. Um, I do have one light from Councelor Winslow. >> Yeah, I want to thank Councelor McDonald um, and everybody on the committee and and the police department who participated as well as the public. I
thought it was a very good um, and thorough report and and reflected a lot of thought. Um, and I I just I encourage everybody to read it and encourage the people from the public to to take a look. I think it was all very sensible recommendations and a thoughtful
response from the police. Um, so I think that's just it's really uh why we really wanted to establish the committee and uh I think it just shows the good work of citizens as well as our police department. So encourage you to read it. So thank you. Great. >> Great. Thank you, Councelor Winslow. Um,
seeing no other lights, I wondered if you could just remind folks where and when you meet and how to find the meeting schedule. Is it on the city website? Oh, sorry. It helps if I put your microphone on, doesn't it? >> Yes. Thank you, council president. So, they have their own web page and an email address, which I believe is PCAC
city of Malden.org if you would like to reach out to them to share feedback or chat or ask questions, which they will then bring to their next meeting and ask the department representative who's there. Um, you can also come and meet with them. They meet typically I think on the third Wednesday in the evening.
So you can come to their meeting online or in person and uh and I will convey your um your appreciation for their report. Do I need to make a motion to put this on file? >> I would love that. >> Well, still moved.
>> Thank you. >> Oh, seconded by councelor Ali. Okay. All in favor to place this on file? >> I. Any opposed? Okay, we have placed that on file. Thank you so much for the update, Councelor McDonald. Next order of business. >> A representative from the solicitor's office will follow up on paper 138-26
with an update to the council on the investigation into the open meeting law complaint filed by Bruce Freeman of 8 Marvin Street on February 19th, 2026 related to the release of executive session minutes from February 3rd, 2026. >> Okay, let me just put the podium microphone on. Okay, you have the floor.
Thank you so much for being here. >> Of course. So, uh, this is a very similar open meeting law complaint to the one we addressed two weeks ago. Uh, it pertains to the executive session minutes uh about um the the TUS litigation. Um, and
our response is essentially the same thing uh that we said a few weeks ago, which is that because this matter is still pending, the final settle settlement agreement has not been approved by the court. um executive the release of executive session minutes
pertaining to the litigation would defeat the purpose of the executive sessions at this time. So um withholding those minutes is not a violation of the open meeting law. Um happy to answer questions that um if anyone has any, but it's essentially the same position we we
just took in the last one. >> Okay. Thank you. And and if we don't have questions again, we'd be looking for a vote to authorize the legal department to respond on our behalf. Yeah. One second. Councelor Ali, >> I do I'm confused. I thought that didn't
we vote last week to release meeting minutes or the week before? Didn't we do something? >> We voted to release them once the postc court documentation was signed off, processed appropriately, and everything was finalized. >> But at the last meeting, I believe the
chair made the designation that that had happened and that we were releasing it. >> I can't I can't make that designation. It's a court action. So, our phrasing is pending the court's what the clerk just said. It's we release it as soon as it's off the court's docket. I'm going to
look to the solicitor's office to get the exact wording. But at the I asked this specific question last meeting because I had said we it was literally reported that the that we that that's the finding that was made is that we were releasing the
minutes at the last meeting >> at the >> pending pending the court. I I will look I will look up minutes from last week's meeting and I'll read it to you exactly. Just a moment please. Because because because I was surprised to I'm surprised this is still a
conversation because I thought we voted last meeting to release No, we placed it on file. It was a communication from from you that you had made the confirmation that the meeting minutes would be released. >> It's May I read the communication?
>> Yes, please read the communication. Thank you. >> The communication from last week's meeting says as follows. On February 19th, 2026, a request was made by Bruce Freriedman for the regular and executive session meeting minutes from the Malden City Council for the dates of February 10th and 17th, 2026.
Regular session minutes may be found at the agenda center of the city's website. In accordance with MGL chapter 3A section 22G, the public body's chair has conducted a review of the executive session minutes and has made the determination that
those minutes from February 10th and 17th shall be released in accordance with the completion of postjudgment actions on each of the respective court cases which were discussed during those sessions. >> Okay. And though because I guess you can
read that two ways. The way I had read that was that you were making the determination that they would be released pursuant to those things happening. And that's why I asked that clarifying question last week. I said, "Is that the determination that's being
made?" And maybe I misunderstood the answer, but that's what I thought we were doing last week. So I thought we were that I was surprised to see this because I thought we had already did this last week. >> So yeah, thanks for clarifying. >> Sure. The way I read that was that you were making that determination that that
had happened. Sorry. >> That you did make the determination >> pursuant to those action >> pursuant to those actions happening at the time. Those actions had not happened. >> Yeah. I I don't know that. >> But the decision was made to release the records. As soon as the court signs off
and the solicitor signs off and everything is clear and ready to go, the council president has already determined these records will be released, but not before their time. Yeah. No, I I that's fine. I I think that the sentence is probably ambiguous.
It could be read and it's not clear that it was happening in the future, but I I just understood it differently. I thought we had done it. Thank you. >> Okay. Councelor Cologne Hayes, one second. Yep. Sorry. It's okay. Yep. Sticky uh mouse. Okay. Thank you. I just had a quick question. I had sent this in
um to both of you also, but I just for anybody else that might be listening, could you explain what um post judgment actions are? is that comes after um well the judgment is like what kind of actions do you have after the judgment?
>> So I mean that language I mean it sounds like that language is relevant as to the last vote that that communication that was just read. Um >> it's not really relevant to this particular open meeting law complaint. This one pertains to the February 3rd
minutes. Um, and I think the language that was used um by the city council in in withholding those minutes was, hold on, let me pull it up real quick. 38 paper 138-26
>> to release the February 3rd, 2026 executive session minutes whole and unredacted upon the court's acceptance of the proposed settlement agreement between TUS and the city of Molden. So that's the language that I was going off of for this the >> okay >> acceptance the court's acceptance of the
settlement agreement which has not happened in this particular case >> in that case. Okay. So then just in general if you don't mind or maybe you could answer what it sounds like and we use this now sometimes before we um release minutes what
until they're finished with postjudgment actions like just in general what that means. >> Um I I think it would depend on >> but like what are they? So I mean in in the context of
like a settlement agree so >> in the context of this case >> the court's acceptance of the settlement settlement agreement is co-terminus with the judgment being entered right so it wouldn't be a
postjudgment action >> oh so this is not on every um settlement or case >> it's not yeah I mean I I understand it to be a general general legal term like terminology. >> Okay. >> Um that's why I was I've never seen that
or heard of it before, so I was confused on what that was. Okay. >> All right. Thank you. >> Okay. Um I seeing no other lights. We again will be looking for a motion to authorize legal to respond on our
behalf. So moved by councelor Taylor, seconded by councelor Leong. Okay, we can do a voice vote for this. So all in favor >> I any opposed >> present >> present by councelor Ali. So we have authorized legal to respond on our behalf. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you. >> Next order of business. >> City solicitor Alicia Mc Alicia McNeel will appear before the council with the communication from the legal department regarding procedures on responding to records requests. >> Thank you. Solicitor McNeel. You have the floor.
>> You're welcome. Good evening everybody. Uh the city's records access officer is Joanne Preparion and she is a staff employee in the legal department. Sorry. Uh Miss Preparian has a method by which
she tracks and responds to record requests to ensure that the requesters are provided with the proper records and that information that is exempted from disclosure is redacted. This process
maintains the integrity of transparency while at the same time protecting the confidentiality and privileged and or personal information of individuals. On February 19th, Mr. Bruce Freriedman
sent a record request directly to councelor Ryan Ali and CCD the public records email address which goes to uh Miss Preparian. Mr. Freriedman requested councelor counselor Ali's o open meeting
law complaint dated February 17th and the amended open meeting law complaint dated February 19th. during my tenure with the city and to my knowledge, Mr. Freriedman has not sent
requests for records directly to an individual besides, of course, the city clerk, the city's record access officer, any departmental record access officers, and the public records email.
Um, before Miss Preparian could log the request or check to determine whether any redactions were needed, councelor Ali uh responded to this request by sending the two open meeting law
complaints directly to Mr. Freriedman. By responding to this request, Councelor Omali released confidential information that took place in executive session that would not have been released had it gone through the proper channels. This
is concerning as there is a clear separation between the duties of a city councelor and that of a city staff employee. Miss Preparian's responsibility is to manage all record requests that come into the city by
assigning them to the correct department, redacting any exempt information, and responding to those requests. Councelor Omali's duty is not to manage the dayto-day responsibilities
of my staff nor of any city staff. That is the responsibility of the directors. Councelor Councelor Ali's actions impacted the workflow of my department leading to confusion and the
release again of confidential information. This communication tonight is twofold. Firstly to reinforce the importance of maintaining clear boundaries with respect to the role of city councilors
and city staff employees in this case the city records access officer Miss Preparian and secondly to provide clarity as to the correct procedure city councilors should follow when any councelor receives record request.
Finally, when it comes to daytoday operations of the city, that should be left to the department heads under the direction of Mayor Christensen. >> Thank you. Okay. I was going to say, councelor Ali, I saw your light. Would you like to
respond? >> Uh, yeah. So, um I can't speak to the procedures um that the solicitor has set up uh during her ten tenure, but I can speak to the procedures since I've been on the
council. And we have often received open meeting or or public records requests from the public. And on on numerous occasions, if I have information related to a public records request, I will sub I will release that. It's a public
record. Uh my understanding is that we just voted to send those open meeting law that's on the agenda tonight. My open meeting complaints are on the agenda tonight. They're public records. So I'm I'm not
sure what what where this allegation is coming from. Uh but nothing inappropriate occurred. I'm not aware of revealing any privilege information from executive session, but I would love to find out what you thought was privileged. Uh the I don't have the executive session minutes, but there
were there was information that was on the open open meeting law complaint that you submitted that was spoken about in the executive session that should not have been released at that time. They're released now um because you sent them
out, but that those portions would have been redacted. My understanding is that my open media law complaint had to do with the fact that in my opinion we we crossed into
impermissible deliberation. Other counselors shared that concern, impermissible deliberation in executive session is not privileged. If if someone decides to tell me or or even if it's just a random thing, if if councelor Crow wants to tell me that she had a ham
sandwich for lunch in executive session, just because you told me you had a ham sandwich for lunch in executive session does not make that a privileged matter. And additionally, doing something that's not permitted in executive session is not privileged.
That was the the whole basis of my open meeting law complaint. So to try to turn this as I was doing something unethical, I think is unethical on your part to be completely honest with you. >> Okay. >> But I appreciate your opinion. I don't agree with it. >> Okay. >> And I look forward to hearing where this goes.
>> I would um as as a re reply again the purpose of my communication was twofold. to one bring to the attention what the proper procedure is again as to record request and to make sure there is a
delineation between what the department's department heads do versus what the council does. And I unfortunately do not have the open meeting law complaint um with me. But if I were to read the open meeting law
complaint, I would have redacted some of the information that was present on the open meeting law complaint. And I believe that's why it wasn't attached originally to the first um at the first time when the complaint was made. >> That's correct. We didn't attach it to the agenda for that reason.
Um I do have a light from councelor McDonald. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. I I hate to even have to say this, but councelor Romeli, I I do not It is not appropriate for us as counselors to malign our city staff and describe their actions as
unethical in the middle of this meeting. Like, I mean, we're having a whole conversation about norms. And I can guarantee you one of the things that needs to be in our norms is respect of our city appointed officials publicly. So, that includes characterizing their actions as unethical. So, I want to say
that that actually wasn't what I had turned my light on to say. Um, thank you Ally for this clarification. I do want also to say thank you to Joanne who has a big job and um and does it well and with professionalism. Um, I actually just wanted to ask, do you know of other
cities like Malden that have to have an entire specialized record access officer due to the volume of requests they receive? >> No, I do not. We have um in fact um we looked at some statistics today and our
volume has increased 60% from last year. >> 60% from last year. 6. >> Yes. 6. >> And that and to be clear, we hired this position prior to that increase because the demand on city staff time was. So it
was so great. We had to hire a specialized physician to handle the amount of public records requests and then that workload went up 60%. >> Yes, that is correct. >> Do you have a sense of how different this is like h how the volume of
requests that we're feeling fielding compared to Medford or Everett or any other cities and towns? >> I do not I do not have that information, but I'm sure that u we can do some digging and find that out. Okay. Well, I appreciate that. I appreciate you
highlighting this. I think it is important for the public to understand that the volume of public records requests that this city receives, the only way to manage it is with a very specialized professional staff person and that that is not a common reality. And so, I really appreciate what you
bring to this because we are every week our docket has another piece to this puzzle. Um, and we really couldn't do it without you. But I think it's important for the public to understand the resources that it requires to comply with state law in this. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Councelor McDonald. Um,
Councelor Ali, I'm going to take Councelor Clone Hayes because she hasn't spoken yet and I'm going to come right back to you. >> Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Nice to meet you. I'm not sure if if we've ever met or did you say someone was in here from the your office or No. >> Yes, Jan preparing.
>> Oh, there you Oh, hi. There you are. Okay. Um anyway, u I was just checking to see what you had just um listed as the procedure just to see if it was on there. I'm thinking maybe that would be helpful if somebody else has a question. Um and if not or is that okay that
process you just explained to go on the website under like where our request um public records requests are just like the process there. I don't know. Well, um th this the process for the department heads or the departments
rather. They already have the process. So, it's not really for the city council. It's for >> it's like internal internal process. >> It's for the department. Yes. >> Okay. That was it. I was just looking. Oh, it's very helpful on this page and just didn't know if there was a place where that would fit. Okay, that makes sense. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you, Councelor Cologne Hayes. Councelor Omali for the second time. >> Yeah, just to respond to councelor McDonald. Um, you know, I have a duty as an attorney uh to to um attorneys are a self-governing
uh entity. We have to hold each other to the highest ethical standards. I have a duty when it comes to my oath to the Commonwealth. I hope that my fellow attorneys will hold me to the the highest ethical oath also. But I will
say that me responding to an open meeting law complaint or a public records request or me whi blowing a whistle to what I believe is inappropriate behavior is is not an unethical thing. To try to characterize
it as such, I think is inappropriate and unethical. Whether it is a another elected official or an appointed official or or anyone in between, I have every right to to say that it's my truly held felt belief. I'm
not doing this to be performative. This is how I truly feel. I think you can all understand that. Whether or not you agree with me or not, or whether or not the city solicitor agrees with with me or not is a completely different thing. I don't want to belabor the point, but I will say respect is mutual. I think we
should all try our best to show each other mutual respect. I think we should all try to hold ourselves to the highest ethical standard. I have seen a lot. I have opinions on it. I think the public deserves to know and I will continue to do that.
>> Thank you. >> May I? >> Of course. >> The this again is not about councelor Ali filing an open meeting law complaint. he has every right to do that. This is about the process of of um
responding to a records request and in that process of responding confidential information that I would not have released to the public was released by council Mali. the the job of the records
access officer is to answer requests from the public and if it was done in the past I again can only speak from my point of view if it was done in the past right now this is a learning experience I would hope for all of us that moving
forward it should come through my office to miss preparing >> thank you I hope everybody has heard loud and clear what's been said tonight because I think I want to underscore not just this piece, but we are also beginning to receive
complaints from the public via other this has happened not just recently but in in other in in past years as well. Members of the public sometimes send complaints via members of the body that are not the chair or the clerk which are the only appropriate entities to receive
open meeting law complaints. I want to underscore as you're bringing this to us that the clerk and I are the only two members that can properly receive open meeting law complaints at a time when we're sitting up here talking about reducing folks pay and cutting city
services. I know there's a lot of chatter on social media about whether we're really going to eliminate city staff, whether we overspend on legal services, whether the counselor should take a pay cut. for a $3,000 a year stipend. I essentially every single day,
sometimes multiple times a day, have to leers with our legal department and the clerk's office on a records request, open meeting law complaint, sometimes a complaint about that complaint. That's my job. I want to be really clear, but like this is not a full-time position.
And yet I am the point of contact for all of the complaints that we get sometimes from within our own body. So, this is becoming so voluminous that if we can't even follow the rules, we're truly making this harder on ourselves. And we absolutely have to set an example
for ourselves, the members of the public and the the board. We all have a right to do this. We can issue complaints against each other. We can put in records requests. That's a foundation to our democracy. But if we are not if we're disrespecting our staff and if
we're putting these in in a in what I view to be a harassing manner, we're not doing the work of the city. And I would just ask that we use our common sense and not disrespect one another in the way that we're doing this. I really feel that this has gotten to a point where it's affecting our ability to get other
city business done. Um I know we have a norms committee um and we're taking up some of these common sense rules. I hope we can get some consensus on that. I know that that committee's been meeting. I I really hope we can make some progress on some of these things because I just think some of this behavior is
not befitting the council. I take very seriously my role to keep decorum and to bring out I hope the best in all of my colleagues. I want to run uh an efficient meeting and I want us to get through the business. We have an extremely dire budget season before us.
We need to be doing that work to the extent possible, not doing this against each other. I really I really believe that. Um and I'm sorry, councelor see I see that you have a light on >> I I think I pressed it after you started
speaking anyway so I apologize. Um but really quickly I just wanted to go on the record as stating this is my 13th year I think as a city councelor and I don't think I've ever received a open meeting law or public records request
myself other than when I was council president. And if I had lodgree and no law degree council or Mali, no disrespect, but I don't think I would have directly responded to the
person requesting the information. So I just want the public to know this is not something that normally happens to us city councilors. Again, I've only received them when I was council president, not as you know, Jaden Seca
would a counselor. Um, and I usually have, you know, since Joannne's been on, she will send an email. If there's a foyer request pertaining to anything that involves me and whatever I have for the timeline that she is requesting, I send it back to her. I don't send it to
the person that's requesting the information. And before that, it was the city. I think she's been on as long as you've been here, maybe >> because I don't remember having to deal with this with you. But I've had to give it to Clerk Lucy. I've had to give information to um Clerk Brennan, uh
Karen Anderson. I've never personally delivered the information that was being requested myself. So, I just I just felt like the public should know that that's not something that is normally done. Um and just to to make sure that they were
aware of that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. And and it shouldn't happen, but I'm seeing it increasingly happen. And I I think it's it's not counselors. It's coming from external. And I think if we're not reminding folks of what you should do, we're putting ourselves at risk. That is what I why I think we've
docketed this and why we have our solicitor's office here. We need to be clear on the rules. We take our ethics test every other year, but your mind can slip. You cannot remember what the right thing to do is. And we have to hold each other accountable. Um I see councelor Simelli and then I'll take you councelor
Winslow. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I just want to echo um councelor seekers's uh sentiments because I was just thinking that I've been on the council for about 16 years now and um besides being council president, I don't even think I got that many uh during the times I was
council president and I would just refer them to like either legal or the clerk's office because uh I'm not getting it's just common well for me it's common sense not to you know touch things I don't really know much about and uh that it's not my
expertise. I understand you're an attorney, so you know, you have your um ethical um reasoning for doing it, but we all have our reasons, too, because we've all taken oaths up here as city councilors when we get inaugurated. And
uh I think something like something like that, it should be like just really streamlined and channeled uh to the proper authorities um directors and department heads. uh because we're just you know part-time city council so we shouldn't be taking on those roles.
Thank you madam chair. >> Thank you councelor Simmonelli. Councelor Winsow. >> Yeah I mean you know having worked in both state government and and city government having to at times handle public records requests. Um sometimes because they're few and far between it
can be somewhat chaotic and they they come through. But given that we did commit as a city and vote for the funding as a council to set up this process, you know, I think it's important that it be respected and I appreciate you bringing this up. Um, you
know, solicitor McNeel. Um, you know, we have this process. It is a way to take a burden off ourselves. This is burdensome. Um and you know I think that it is for the best of us uh to respect the process and um and and we do have
the the duties we have to keep things confidential and we have to have that conscious and make that that uh that's why we have professionals to be independent and you know they always say with attorneys the uh you know being your own uh client is not the best thing
to do. we have to we we we have situations where even though we're attorneys, we have to rely on the professional judgment of the people that are actually having that role. So, um you don't want to be your own uh uh attorney when there's being challenged like this. You need that independent
view. So, thank you very much. Great. >> Thank you, Councelor Winsow. Um any final words that you wanted to say? Okay. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you for being here. We appreciate the reminder and we just need a voice vote to place this communication on file. Okay. So moved by councelor McDonald,
seconded by councelor Simelli. All in favor of placing this on file. >> I >> present councelor Ali. That is placed on file. Next order of business. >> Paper 149-1 149-26 committee report. The
standing committee on personnel and appointments whom was referred papers 123 and 125 series of 2026. Having considered the same make the following report. Committee recommends these papers out favorably to the full council. >> Okay. On a motion by councelor Crow, seconded by councelor Taylor to receive
the committee report. Oh, wait. We just need to place this on file. My apologies. >> Going to receive and place on file. >> Receive and place on file. Sorry, I was not looking at the other side. Um, all in favor of receiving the committee report. >> I Okay, councelor Crow, let me read
paper 123-26. Mayoral rep reappoint Yam Lip of 28 Constitution Road, Boston as a city engineer, director of the engineering department said term to commence upon confirmation by the city council and expire on March 1st, 2029.
>> Thank you. Um, Madame President, the um, so, um, actually it's usually when you give the committee reports, it's not something they usually um, kind of comment on public comment, but since this has been a couple of weeks, um, I did I did want to say something for our
first appointment there and really because despite the information that's often taken out of context, Yum's employment record has been excellent in the time that he's been here. um cases settle we all know for different reasons and you cannot take a snippet of that
information especially from social media and believe that you have the full story. So YM has done um a great job to the best of his ability and this is why the city is adamantly defending um Mr. Lim Mr. Yum
yeah Mr. lip. Sorry. um and at in during that lawsuit. And last week we did meet um in uh with both the next two um appointments and in personal appointments committee and we
really had a conversation and was really highlighting all the work that happens in these in the departments and really what they have to touch and I think that we have talked about is as Miss um Luis has mentioned in her public comment um all the things that fall under the
engineering department and all the things that that that department has to do and under um Mr. Lip's um direction. And so after that conversation and people had opportunities to ask um our appointments um questions how they felt
um we voted to unanimously reappoint Mr. Lip's appointment and so I make that motion. >> Okay. I I see a light by councelor Winsow. Were you looking a second or did you want to speak to the paper? >> Yeah. No. And I just I I don't want to belabor the point, but I I wholeheartedly agree with councelor
Crow's assessment as well as uh Maria Louise's. I I made very similar comments in in committee, off committee, but uh you know, I've you worked a lot with Mr. Lip and uh been impressed and I know over the PA past eight years that the way our engineering services are
delivered have improved tremendously. He has a tremendous staff and uh I think we need to you know reappoint him so that work can continue. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you councelor Winsow. So on a motion by councelor Crow, seconded by councelor Winsow. Oop sorry councelor Mali. I see your light.
>> Yeah. I just also want to echo that, you know, um I think YM has done a great job as our city engineer and um you know, when it comes to traffic safety, our sidewalks, um so there are so many things that he's involved in as as Maria Louise mentioned the lead the lead
service lines. I mean, there's nothing that YM doesn't touch. Um you know, I think all of us um can can improve in different ways and I think that providing the the environment to succeed is is is crucial there. Part of that is holding each other accountable. Um, and
you know, I I truly believe that YM is a great city engineer. Um, and I look forward to working with him in his ne in the next term that he's he's here. Um, but you know, I think that to try to um, you know, put the mistakes of, you know, potentially others onto YM um, I think
would be inappropriate. So, um, I'm I'm fully in support of Yam's reappoint um, and look forward to serving with them. Like I said, thanks. >> Thank you, Councelor Ali. Okay. So, I had a motion by councelor Crow, seconded by councel Winslow, we do need a roll call vote to confirm. Council Colon Hayes, >> yes.
>> Yes. Council Condan, >> yes. >> Yes. Council Crowe, >> yes. >> Yes. Council Lewong, >> yes. >> Yes. Council McDonald, >> yes. >> Yes. Council Ali, >> yes. >> Yes. Council Sega, >> no. >> No. Council Simmonelli,
>> yes. Council Taylor, >> yes. >> Yes. Council Winslow, >> yes. >> Yes. Council President Lahan, >> yes. Okay. So that has been confirmed by a 10 to1 vote. >> Okay. So Mr. Lip is confirmed. Next order of business, >> paper 125-26, mayoral reappoint Anthony
Rodriguez of 100 Tremon Street Malden as director of information technology said term to commence upon confirmation by the city council and expire on March 1st, 2029. >> Okay. Councelor Crow. >> Thank you again. And um we also had a conversation with Mr. Rodriguez and just
really talked about um all the things that it in in a digital age really what they're responsible for for a community this size and when we had data breaches and pulling in everything underneath the IT department, the schools, the police
working together. Um it really is um a big job and so we um it was really great to be able to hear about some of the projects people have been working on, what they have um planned going forward. And so we make a motion to uh approve Mr. Rodriguez's appointment. And that
was voted out unanimously as well. >> Okay. And I see a second by Councelor Lewong. We again need a roll call to confirm. >> Council Cologne Hayes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Council Condan. >> Yes. >> Yes. Council Crowe. >> Yes. >> Yes. Council Lewong. >> Yes. >> Yes. Council McDonald.
>> Yes. >> Yes. Council Ali. >> Yes. >> Yes. Council Sega. >> Yes. >> Yes. Council Simonelli. >> Yes. >> Yes. Council Taylor. Yes. >> Yes. Council Winslow. >> Yes. >> Yes. Council President Lahan. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, that confirmation has been uh
approved unanimously of 11 to zero. >> Unanimously approved. Okay. Uh next order of business. >> That would be your docket. >> Okay. So, does anybody want personal privilege? I have Councelor Winslow first.
>> Yeah. I just want to let folks know um uh there's a me meeting I'm having tomorrow night at Lynen School about um proposals for um speed humps on Lwell Beach and Olive Avenue. Um this is result about a lot of input from the
community for safer uh streets up there. So that's 6:30 tomorrow at the Lynen Auditorium. Uh the Lieutenant Tuxberry will be there explaining what the safety issues up there. the engineering department will present um the plan for
the speed hump. So, uh please uh attend um that meeting. And then um March 28th um I'm organizing um with the support of Bike to the Sea um my annual cleanup starting behind Salemwood School of the Bike Trail. So, um please come out at
9:00 in the morning and uh we we do as much of the trail as we can. Um and always appreciate the support of DPW on that. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Winszo. Councelor Simmonelli. >> Thank you, Madam President. I just want to uh apologize to both of my colleagues, Councelor Peg Crow and
Councelor Jen Sika. I think I was a little overly passionate couple of weeks ago and kind of went overboard a little bit maybe. And uh I uh I apologize for that. And um my meaning I I I meant the meaning, but
I I I I didn't uh mean the delivery as much as uh I I put it out there. So, you know, when I'm wrong, I I admit I'm wrong, and I apologize for that. I think you're both great counselors, and I like working with both of you. Thanks. Thank you, Madam President. >> Thank you, Councelor Simmonelli. Councelor McDonald.
>> Well, that was very nice, Councelor Simonelli. Um I don't worry I I don't have any deeply held beliefs to share. Um but I will remind folks that early voting starts for our upcoming special election on the override. It starts on Monday and
is the is the next two weeks. So whenever city hall is open Monday through Thursday, including late on th on Tuesdays, excuse me. You can come and vote early at the clerk's office. Um it's not too late to request a mail and ballot, but it's getting pretty close. So, if you want to do that, you should
go pretty quick. Um, and then a reminder that the special election is on March 31st, that Tuesday. It's a regular election at your regular polling place, 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Folks may also have seen that uh the school committee
voted to close all K8 schools in the ELC um since they serve as polling locations. So, there will be no regular school. The high school, however, is open. Um, and I uh and and I also just want to remind folks that we have two
more public forums on the override and the city's budget challenges. The next one is Monday the 16th at 6 p.m. at the Ferryway School and the final one will be on Wednesday, March 25th at 6 p.m. at
Lynen Steam Academy. So, if you want to come and learn more, we had a great conversation at the BB school uh last week. Um, finally, I just want to announce that we do have a confirmed date and time for this year's Green Molden Fair. It's going to be Saturday, April 25th from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. This
will be maybe the fourth year, I think, that that uh the city is doing this. It's always a great opportunity um to learn about everything from tree planting to composting to the city's climate action work. So, come check that out. It's going to be at the f the fieldhouse at Pine Banks Park. And if you're interested in being a vendor, you
can email uh the city's uh Green Malden email address. So, thank you very much. >> Great. Thank you, Councelor McDonald. Councelor Seika. >> Thank you, Council. >> Oh, sorry, that didn't work. Go ahead. >> Thank you, Council President. I just wanted to uh let everyone know we still
have a few tickets left for uh this Friday, Friday the 13th. Come Press Your Luck at Pocketbook Bingo. that is going to be um we're running it for the benefit of the Malden Enrichment Center, former counselor Craig Spataphora,
myself along with the um friends of Mtech. The doors open at 5:30. The tickets are $60. It's for 30 bingo cards, job, door prizes, dinner. Um it's a lot of fun. Uh you don't win money,
you win a pocketbook. I've been shopping for the last couple weeks. Um, and if you can't make it out that night, but you still want to contribute, we are also raffling off a $3,000 Louis Vuitton Never Full bag, um, all this information
is on my uh my, excuse me, not my website, my Facebook page. You can send a Venmo to the Mtech uh directly. If it's just for the Louis bag, you just put LV raffle in the comments. If you want to buy a ticket, it's $60. So, we
kind of know where that's going. Um, if we still have tickets, you can buy them at the door. Some people have been asking, but I just don't know if that will be the case because we were we were at a we were pretty close to it a few days ago. I don't know the exact number. I forgot to check today, but if if you
got nothing to do and you want to press your luck on lucky Friday the 13th, we'll be at Anony's of Malden. Doors open at 5:30. Dinner is at 6:30, bingo starts at 7:00. It's a lot of fun. I think the mayor is coming to call some
bingo games, which ought to be fun. And uh one more thing, uh April, what day is Easter on? >> Oh jeez, I don't know. >> Is it the fifth or I keep getting confused. The fifth. >> So on Saturday, April 4th at 10 a.m. at Lynen Park, we're doing our W 8 annual
egg hunt. Starts at 10:00 a.m. shop. Make sure you bring your kids with a bag. and uh the bunny himself will be there for some photos if you got nothing to do the day before Easter. Thank you. >> Cute. Thank you, councelor Seika. Councelor Ali. >> Uh thank you. Yeah, I just wanted to let
everyone know that I had forwarded them the um open meeting law complaint and my response to the public records request that we were discussing in the meeting tonight. Um I think that y'all deserve to know what the open meeting law complaint stated and the actions that I
took. I believe that the way they were characterized by our legal department was inappropriate. Uh and I just wanted you all to see that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Seeing no other lights, do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion. >> Okay. On a motion by councelor Sea, seconded by councelor Simonelli. All in
favor? >> I. Any opposed? We are adjourned at 8:43. Thanks everyone. Someday when you read your memo, you should title it >> read the room.